Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-13-Speech-2-036"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030513.2.2-036"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I think it is very important that we should now obtain common legislation on environmental liability. That is something for which we have waited for many years. I do not believe that the Commission’s proposal for a directive is completely satisfactory. On the other hand, to adopt Mr Manders’ report unamended would be totally to undermine environmental protection in the EU. It would genuinely undermine the Commission’s actual proposal.
There is a need for important changes. First and foremost, it must be ensured that the polluter pays principle is applied without exception, and we must at the same time ensure, along the lines indicated by several other people, that there are financial guarantees of the polluter’s also actually being able to pay, either through compulsory insurance arrangements or in some other way. We should have strict or objective liability for forms of environmental destruction resulting from commercial activity.
When it comes to the issue of reducing biodiversity, I think it important that we obtain as broad a definition as possible so that all the habitats and species protected by Community legislation and corresponding national legislation are in actual fact covered.
Finally, I believe that the directive should also cover pollution of the countryside by genetically modified organisms. I cannot begin to understand why there is no desire to address that issue in this directive.
In conclusion, a remark on access to the complaints procedure. I believe that, in this area too, we must provide cover that is as broad as is humanly possible so that people really are given the opportunity to make complaints about environmental pollution, and the same thing should of course apply to non-governmental organisations or NGOs.
As a very last point, a couple of remarks about the legal base itself. I appreciate that some people would like, in a few years’ time, to transfer the legal base from the environmental protection provisions to the internal market. That would, in my view, be a total mistake, and it would in actual fact destroy the rules governing environmental liability already established in many Member States. That is therefore something I would very strongly oppose, and I would state that I shall only be able to vote in favour of Mr Manders’ report if it is amended in relation to the points I have just mentioned."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples